Bolshevik Consolidation

Question 1

Ending Involvements in WW1

Answer 1

Bolsheviks promised peace, difficult as Germany was already occupying large parts of Russia

Lenin was convinced that Revolution would soon engulf Germany & German workers would soon join their comrades in Russia in creating in a new world, rather than continuing to fight them

Trotsky dragged proceedings out

Question 2

Treaty of Brest - Litovsk 1918

Answer 2

Russia lost; Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belaruse and Ukraine

62 million pop

26% of Russia’s railway lines

26% of Russia’s railway lines

Pay 3 billion roubles to Germany in reparartions

Question 3

Consolidation of One Party State

Answer 3

Sovnarkom continued

Red Guards demilitarised and Red army forms, Trotsky placed as head of Army

Russia became a secular state, state gave no support to the Orthodox Church

Question 4

Press?

Answer 4

Any media critical of the Bolsheviks was immediately shut down

Question 5

Reasons for the start of the Civil War in Spring 1918?

Answer 5

Anger over ignoring the votes from the constituent assembly

Former generals were humiliated by the treaty of Brest - Litovsk

Nobility furious over land seizures

Question 6

Which groups made up the red army?

Answer 6

Kronstadt sailors

Red Army

Some Ex-Tsarist officers (coerced by Trotsky)

Question 7

Which groups made up the white army?

Answer 7

Kadets

Any groups who had opposed the Bolsheviks

Former Tsarists

Foreign Support from France, Britain, Japan and USA

Question 8

How did Geographical factors allow the Bolsheviks to win the Civil War?

Answer 8

Bolsheviks held the industrial centers of Petrograd and Moscow, meant they had access to all of the industrial centres

Hub of railway Network

Held more populated areas, more people to throw at war effort

Whites were scattered around making communication difficult

Question 9

How did unity and organisation allow the Bolsheviks to win the civil war?

Answer 9

Trotsky reissued the death penalty in order to control the army

Bolsheviks had a single, unified command structure whereas the Whites were made up of a number of different groups who fought over whether their aim was monarchism, republicanism or the establishment of the Constituent Assembly

Whites only agreed on hatred for the reds

Question 10

Trotsky’s role in the Civil War

Answer 10

He restored discipline through the return of hierarchical ranking and hash punishment e.g. immediate execution of deserters

Brought back ex tsarist officers with experienced and held their families hostage to convince them to help

Rode around in an armoured train in order to improve morale

Question 11

How did leadership ensure that the Bolsheviks won the civil war?

Answer 11

Role of Trotsky

Discipline was extremely harsh - soldiers knew that if they deserted they would be killed and this meant that the number of soldiers stayed high

Many soldiers deserted the White army due to harsh discipline

with the Whites, uniforms and munitions supplied by foreign interventionist governments were sold on the black market and officers were constantly using drugs, prostitutes and alcohol

Question 12

Support for the Reds

Answer 12

Red army supported by the peasants

The Whites had made it clear that if they regained power, all land would be returned to its ‘rightful’ owners: the nobility. Peasants were much more inclined to support the Reds

The Whites alienated nationalist groups by aiming for the re-establishment of pre-1917 borders

Whites represented old government

Question 13

Propaganda during the Civil war

Answer 13

Reds able to position themselves as the supporters of Russia against the whites who recieved foreign support

The Reds used very powerful propaganda, stating that: the Whites would take the land away from the peasants

Question 14

Cheka

Answer 14

The remaining Romanovs were brutally murdered in 1918 to avoid anyone trying to assert them as rulers again

Prisoners were executed with greater frequency: 300,000 prisoners were killed between 1918 and 1920

Anyone supposedly affiliated with ‘bourgeois provocation’ or counter-revolution was arrested and sent to a gulag without trial. 6000 were killed in 1918 alone.

Cheka officers stole from the peasants and would arrest them if they fought

Question 15

Why did Lenin adopt War Communism

Answer 15

Economy declining very quickly; land commtrol to peasants and workers in control of factories was not economically benefitial

Shortage of Raw Materials

Consumer goods availability decreased, leading to price inflation and the reduced value of the rouble

Peasants reluctant to supply cities with grain due to inflation

60% of the workers in Petrograd left the city, causing a shortage of workers due to food shortages

Question 16

War Communism

Answer 16

Developed during the Civil War in order to supply the army with suppplies (e.g food, amunitions)

Treat the Economy like a factory, supply masses not the few

Question 17

Key Features of War Communism

Answer 17

1. Grain Requisition
2. All Industry Nationalised
3. Heavy Rationing
4. Factory discipline reinstated (restoration of managers)

Question 18

Effects of War Communism

Answer 18

By 1920, industrial production fallen to less than 1/3 of pre WW1 levels

Grain rot due to transportation fails

By 1920 the pop. of Petrograd fell by 57%

Widespread famine in 1921 as well as disease

Workers Strikes

Tambov Revolt, 1920-21, 70,000 Peasant army rally against Bolsheviks, red army deploys 100,000 soldiers villages were gassed

Kronstadt Rising

Question 19

Red Terror

Answer 19

After two assassination attempts on
Lenin in 1918, the Red Terror started
to emerge

The Cheka grew from 120 employees
in March 1918 to 143,000 by 1921

Question 20

State Capitalism

Answer 20

Meant as a halfway between Capitalism and Socialism, major companies would remain in private hands but under state control.

Managers and experts would retain their roles in industries, factories and manufacturing but would be managed by the Vesenka (a gov. department created by the Sovnarkom in late 1917

Question 21

Key Features of State Capitalism

Answer 21

Nationalisation was introduced to create greater efficiency

Small factories were not nationalised. They were controlled by workers or handed back to capitalists

Question 22

Problems of State Capitalism

Answer 22

Many Bolsheviks demanded full state control

Production drop as workers failed to organise themselves

Question 23

Economic problems during the civil war

Answer 23

Falling Industrial Productivity led to inflation

Factory supplies disrupted by fighting

Important agricultural land lost during treaty of Brest -Litovsk

Peasant hoarding led to food shortages

Around 5 million died due to starvation and disease

Question 24

NEP 1921

Answer 24

Viewed by many as an attack on Bolsheviks ideology

Nepmen (merchants, retailers and profiteers) were responsible for 75% of trade but were hated by the public

Question 25

Key Features of the NEP

Answer 25

1. End of Grain Requisitioning, peasants allowed to sell surplus grain
2. Small Businesses reopened
3. Ban on Private trade removed
4. State still in control of large heavy industry

Question 26

Tambov Revolt

Answer 26

Autumn 1920, peasants in Tambov, led by
Aleksandr Antonov, rebelled against requisitioning and Cheka brutality

Force of 50,000 peasants

Lasted until June 1921, 100,000 red army soldiers sent to brutally put down the revolution

Question 27

Kronstadt Rebellion

Answer 27

In 1921, further reductions in food rationing led to strikes and riots in the cities

In March, Sailors at the Kronstadt naval bas
rebelled against the suppression of the Petrograd strikes

The sailors demanded democratic reforms.
(‘Soviets without Communists’)

Trotsky sent the Red Army to put down the
uprising

15,000 rebels were imprisoned and the ring
leaders were shot.

Some members of the party believed the
Bolsheviks were becoming to authoritarian.

Question 28

Russia’s relations with Foreign powers

Answer 28

Former Allies felt betrayed by the peace negotiations with Germany

Russia was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference nor involved with the formation of the League of Nations

Question 29

Foreign involvement in the Civil War

Answer 29

Whites helped by Britain, France, USA and Japan

End of WW1 foreign powers aimed to combat Bolsheviks

The Allies sent troops to help the Whites – although they were spread across Russia and the numbers were small

Question 30

Russo-Polish War

Answer 30

The Bolsheviks attempted to export the revolution and in 1920 the Red Army invaded Poland

The Bolsheviks expected the Polish working class to support the Red Army and revolt against the Polish Government

The invasion failed as the Poles resisted what they saw as traditional Russian expansionist aggression

Treaty of Riga signed 1921, failure to spread communism

Question 31

The Comintern

Answer 31

Aimed to spread communism globally

First Comintern 1919, initial positivity and delegates sent from around the world

As the congresses continued in 1920 and 1921 Lenin began to dominate the conversation with his ideas. This alienated some parties broke away

By 1921 hopes for a global revolution begain to fizzle out, emergence of Weimar gov in Russia etc

After 3rd congress, Lenin shifted focus to protecting Russia

Question 32

Relations with Germany

Answer 32

Both countries had been isolated from the West following the world war

Treaty of Rapallo (1922), Russia would provide miliray area to train for Germany and Germany would provide Russia special trading rights